Once There Was The End
by BrightLights9
Summary: Jade is raising the trolls as if they are her own kids, and while she has help from John and Rose, Dave, her husband, left her and she's trying to keep her cool. But trying to raise 12 completely crazy trolls may be too much for her. Will the trolls end up where Jade found them, or will Jade get well soon?
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter One_**

**_Jade's Kids_**

In the small town of Florafauna, there stands a mansion previously owned by a wealthy family, until they were found dead at the edge of the forest which was outside the town's boundary's. In moved a happy couple. This couple soon moved out screaming something about ghosts as they ran from the town. Then came a family with several children.

The parents were Dave and Jade Harley. Jade and Dave didn't give birth to these children. No, these children had been collected from the forest after being abandoned by the creatures in the woods. Jade's brother, John, and Dave's sister, Rose, lived with them. Jade discovered that the children they had saved had horns. Dave didn't find this odd, nor did he notice this. He only noticed that Jade had not only grabbed a few, but she had grabbed all of them. He soon found a job that would take him away from home. He produced movies.

John and Rose were given the task of naming the children. Jade had to buy baby things. John, who was very eccentric, was busy on the roof, fixing the whole that one of the children had made. So that left Rose to name them. And Rose had a thing for odd names. She was feeling quite inspired after watching a movie about wizards, and she took the children to the town's "city hall" equivalent. She named the oldest Feferi. Feferi giggled as Rose put her back into the only thing that fit all the children, the borrowed shopping cart. She named the second oldest Eridan. He squirmed in her grasp. She placed him back into the shopping cart and pulled out the third born. Gamzee. The fourth born: Equius. The fifth born: Vriska. The sixth born: Terezi. The seventh born: Kanaya. The eighth born: Nepeta. The ninth born: Sollux. The tenth born: Tavros. The twins were Aradia and Karkat.

When Jade came home, Rose told her the names, and Jade dropped her shopping bags and nearly fainted. She soon calmed down, and John told her it would be fine to raise children with such original names. Jade agreed, and anyway, it would take too long to rename them all, and they really didn't have that kind of time.

Over time, Jade came to love them as if they had come from her own womb. Feferi was the bubbly one, who knew she had responsibilities and worked hard to do them all. Eridan was the one who tried to hide that he loved magic so that he wouldn't get teased about that. Gamzee was the one who believed in miracles freely. John decided it wouldn't be safe to let this one in the water. Equius was the one who liked to be obeyed and be obedient. Jade had him take piano lessons. But he often broke things without meaning to due to his brute strength. He had even broked one of his horns. Vriska was defiant, and daring, and once or twice had tried to kill her adoptive siblings as an infant. Terezi couldn't see so she trusted her tounge and her nose to show her the way. Kanaya was fashionable and only violent when she felt it was called for. She also read the dictionary twice when she was in kindergarten. Rose had demanded that the principal put her in higher classes. Nepeta was the type that always obeyed even when she said she wouldn't. She was also a romantic, always dreaming about perfect matches, and even who her first boyfriend would be. Sollux had big dreams too. But they weren't of romance. They were about being a video game programmer. For now, he was just a hacker, and the best one. Tavros had no feeling below his waist. Even though he didn't know why, John went with him to school for the first week in kindergarten, sixth grade, and would probably do the same for freshman year. Tavros just had the need of his adoptive uncle. And Aradia was pretty much in love with the dead. She talked to Rose and Jade about talking to the ghosts at night. Karkat, the younger of the twins, was always angry, at no one in particular.

This story happens to begin with Dave coming home for the first time since the kids had graduated elementary school. They were all in seventh grade, and the year was coming to a close. Jade was combing Tavros's hair, which was just a Mohawk since Vriska had shaved most of his hair off in his sleep. Aradia and Karkat were having another quiet mental conversation. Feferi was, of course, fingering Equius's silky, oily hair.

"How is it so oily? None of the rest of us have oily hair." Feferi asked.

"It's because we were all adopted. Our parents didn't give a crap about us. We were left to die in the forest, that's how much they wanted to get rid of us, they put us in the forest. No one wanted us." Karkat grumbled.

"Karkat, that was mean, you know that I wanted you at least." Jade chided.

"Well, 'Dad' didn't. Why isn't he here? Why didn't he go with Tavros to school last year instead of Uncle John? How come 'Dad' left John to do the father job? Because he didn't give a crap about us." Karkat said. Nepeta started to cry.

"Momma, is that true?" Nepeta asked. Jade opened her mouth to answer.

"Jade is not our mom." Karkat growled. Now, Jade had ignored Karkat's behavior for several years after she had told them how she got them, but this hurt Jade, because she had put in the sweat, blood, and tears to raise them, and she loved them with every fiber of her being no matter how angry she got. Jade dropped onto the sofa and started sobbing, pouring out her feelings into her tears. She was sad that Dave left. She was sad that her children were teased at school for their names. She was sad that Dave barely came to see her.

Rose tiptoed in to finish getting the kids ready for John's birthday dinner. As Jade's sobbing became louder and harder, Rose tried to lead the children to another room. Nepeta ran over to Jade and sat with her drying her tears as Jade had done so many times for her. Feferi grabbed a tissue bow and held it out for her mother. Tavros pushed his wheelchair over to her and sung softly. Jade blew her nose into a tissue. By now Karkat was feeling horrible. He had never seen Jade cry so much. But rather than apologizing, Karkat's self-hatred became stronger. He ran to his room and stayed there for as long as possible. Jade began to laugh at how eleven of her children were trying to cheer her up. She blew her nose again and smiled at her kids, wiping her face.

There was a knock at the door. Jade, still laughing, got up and opened the door. She looked at who it was and stopped laughing with a sharp inhale.

"Dave." Jade whispered. The kids, who had been chattering curiously about the person at the door, fell silent.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter Two_**

**_The Strange Family in That House_**

Everyone in Florafauna agreed that it was smart of Dave to leave Jade with the twelve horned children. Everyone agreed it had been dumb to let his sister name the children. And everyone agreed that the family was strange. But no one agreed with more passion than Dave Harley himself. He had tried to change his last name to Strider, but he still stupidly mentioned Jade and how he'd left her to everyone he met. And when we mentioned why, they seemed to look at him funny. Eventually he had to see what was so great about children and why people wanted them. He came back home, and this time he intended to stay. But he couldn't find Florafauna on any of the maps, since it was such a small town. So he spent since Christmas looking for it. Finally he found it. And once there he could easily tell which house was Jade's.

Dave was sitting on Jade's bed explaining this all to her. She was stony faced and when he mentioned that he intended to stay, she made a weird sound with her throat and looked at her hands as she twiddled her thumbs, still stony faced. He finished.

"Karkat was beginning to think you didn't want them. So was I. And everyone else. But Karkat… he's so hateful. I- I just don't think I'm caring for him right. I can't- I just can't do it without you anymore. I'm glad that- glad that you're back to stay. I hope that-that- I hope that you love them as much as I do. Karkat really needs his dad right now. He's in the awkward stage, and I just- I just- I-," Jade broke out into sobs and clutched at Dave's shirt. "I can't do it anymore. Today he said I wasn't their mother, and when I cried he didn't do anything. It's like he wants me to hate him like he hates me. Why is he so hateful? I raised him to be sweet, like Tavros, or cheery like Feferi! But he's so mad at everyone and everything!"

Dave comforted her as best he could, but he knew less about weeping women than he knew about children. Jade had always been happy-go-lucky, and to see her cry was like seeing Rose be dumb.

"Let me talk to him." Dave said. He pulled Jade off of his chest to look into her red, puffy eyes.

Dave searched around the house, the kids were nowhere to be seen. Finally he found Karkat's room. He entered. Karkat looked up.

"I'm hallucinating. You're a hallucination coming to tell me off for being so mean. Jade is still not my mom, and the real you is not my dad. When I find them, they'll be sorry they left me in the woods. Anyway, I punished myself for being mean to her already, so buzz off dumb hallucination." Karkat said.

"I haven't come to tell you off, and I expected that you punished yourself, because that's what I did when I left her. I left her crying on the front doorstep in fact. That's exactly what happened. I left, she sat on the doorstep and cried, and I got into my car and drove away." Dave said.

"Then you aren't a hallucination. A figment of my imagination could not have told me that." Karkat groaned. "So you are real. I'm not going to continue talking to you."

"When we found you in the woods, a crab actually gave you to us. You were asleep in an empty crab shell. There was a sheep too, giving us your twin sister. Suddenly, all sorts of animals were leaving babies at our feet. Jade wanted to keep you all. She thought you were all cute enough to keep. I took one look at you, and Terezi, and I decided which two were my favorites. Don't tell the others. I picked you both up and I didn't expect Jade to take the rest. She emptied her pack of all food and clothes, and she put Tavros and Vriska in there. She ripped part of her skirt to create an old fashioned baby carrier. She put Nepeta, Equius, and Sollux in there. She tried to carry all of the others. I was stunned that she actually managed it. And then when I thought she'd give them up for adoption, she kept them all. I was angry, and we had our first fight since we got married. She said she knew that since she couldn't give birth they were like blessings and that the moment she saw them she knew she had to keep them. That they were meant to be hers all along, and I got mad. She was rocking Tavros to and fro at the time and I knocked him out of her arms on accident. When she came back from the hospital, I could tell she had bad news, and I hated to leave her with more. But I did and it just made her sob. She yelled about how she couldn't believe I was leaving her when I had just crippled one of her sons. I yelled that they weren't her kids and they would never be, and she sobbed as she yelled that it didn't matter who gave birth to them, it only mattered who loved them. I yelled about how she didn't even have names for them. She said she would. I almost took you and Terezi with me. But I looked at you and realized I couldn't take you from Jade. She had tried to carry all of you home with her. She had tried to calm all of you down while we shouted at each other. She was the one who was acting on her love, and I was just trying to separate you from your twin. She loves you all. She was cradling you as she cried on that doorstep. You were crying the hardest. She can't split her love as easily as me. Don't hate her Karkat." Dave said.

Karkat swiped at a tear.

"I don't hate Mom. I don't hate you. I don't hate anyone. I hate me for being so dumb all the time. I have to go see the school counselor every day you know. I talk to him about how I feel that day and he writes it down. Then he tells me why I might be feeling this way, after I answer some questions about whats been going on at home lately. When I bullied that kid on the first day of sixth grade, it was the day after you disappeared in the middle of the night. That morning I had stood right outside Mom's room, and I listened to her cry. She sobbed and as she did I could hear banging. Mom hurts herself every time you leave. She hurt herself that time on Christmas Eve when you just strolled out the door because you had to film a certain part of your movie. She hurts herself really bad. That day in sixth grade the principal sent me to see the counselor. The counselor asked me some questions. He said that I was feeling like the whole thing was my fault because I felt like I wasn't enough to keep her happy." Karkat mumbled. "I always feel that way. And it's because of you. I don't give a crap if you like me better than the others. I'd like you to just stay out of all our lives, and maybe we can all be happy for a change."

So that's what Dave did. But this time, he explained to Jade exactly why he needed to do it. And she wasn't too sad to see him go. She still cried, but it wasn't sobs. It was a trickle of goodbye. Jade always hated goodbyes. And Dave didn't hate himself for this goodbye. He'd come back when Karkat was ready. But meanwhile, he'd continue to produce movies.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter Three_**

**_In Defense of Brothers_**

Equius sat, drawing his favorite animal: horses. The math teacher was going on about binomials or something, and even from across the room, Equius could hear Tavros whimpering every time one of the kids around him jabbed him with their pencils. They thought it was funny to poke him, because every time they did he'd whimper, and sometimes even moo, but other than that he'd ask them to stop in his squeaky voice that cracks a lot. They never did stop though. They had done it all year, and normally, it didn't bother Equius, but now that he saw they started to spit spitballs in Tavros's Mohawk and hang tape from his wide horns, Equius felt really agitated. He normally only cared if someone teased Nepeta, his favorite sister, but this was getting frustrating, just watching kids bully his brother.

Equius's grip tightened around his pencil, and it snapped.

"Guys, stop." Tavros squeaked. Equius got up with a slam of his fist on the desk. It broke. He strode across the room, grabbed one of the offenders and lifted the boy off of his chair.

"Stop messing with my brother, got it?" Equius growled. The biy nodded.

"Equius Harley, sit down." Mr. Petrosky, the math teacher, said. For the first time in his life Equius disobeyed an order. He dropped the kid back in his seat. Then he yanked on a girl's ponytail. She had also been teasing Tavros.

"Leave the kid alone." Equius hissed into her ear. She shuddered as he let her ponytail go. He straightened. "Anybody else want to mess with my brother?"

"Mr. Harley! I will see you in the principal's office after school today! Sit down!" Mr. Petrosky yelled. Equius sat back down. No one else poked Tavros, or hung tape from his horns, or blew spitballs into his Mohawk for the rest of the period. But that didn't stop bullies outside of the classroom.

As soon as lunch came around, several bullies circled Tavros on his way out of the bathroom to go to lunch.

"Look who it is: Bad boy wannabe. Cuz he wannabe as bad as me." The leader of the group, Troy said.

"How do you not get stuck in the doors, bull boy?" Gerard, his right hand jerk, asked cruelly.

They always did this, it was a routine they started when Tavros had first come to this middle school. Gerard, the tallest, wedged Tavros's horns into the top of a doorway and he'd hang there while they hid his wheelchair. They usually hid it in the music room. And from the beginning of middle school, Feferi would have to climb up on Eridan' s shoulder's to get him, and Vriska would retrieve his wheelchair.

But today, it was worse. It was nearing the end of the year and the bullies were all thinking of the best ways to torture their victims. So this time the bullies hung him from the same doorway, but they planned to pull his pants down as well. He couldn't lift his legs to pull them back up, and his head was stuck, so he couldn't bend down to pull them up either. He'd be humiliated. And this time they actually managed to break his wheelchair.

Fortunately Equius found him before any of the bullies had pulled his pants down. And what Equius did was so perfect. Equius hung all the bullies by their underpants on the school statue outside.

"Equius! Meet me in the principal's office after school today!" Mrs. Kinkland, the art teacher, yelled.

Then Equius spent the rest of the day with Tavros on his back to replace the wheelchair. Girls started to notice Tavros. And all girls fall for guys with problems like broken or unusable limbs, apparently.

"Aww, you're so adorable!" Rebecca, a girl on the pep squad, said. She trailed after Equius, but it was clear she meant Tavros. Tavros blushed. She went crazy over that. "Aww, your blush is orange! That's so cute, it matches your horns!"

"Moo again, Tavvy! I find it so adorable!" Laura begged. She was also on the pep squad. Tavros mooed at the compliment. The girls squealed.

"Tavvy, I would love it if you went to the eighth grade formal with me. I would sit in your lap when you get that new wheelchair!" Samantha, an eighth grader, asked.

"Okay." Tavros squeaked.

"AWWW! His voice cracks like a cute little sixth grader!" The girls all exclaimed in unison. They jumped up and down. That's just what piggyback riding on your strong brother's back does for you. Especially when you can't move your legs.

Equius sat in the principal's office with two teachers and Jade.

"I'd still like to hear my son-,"

"Miss, he's not your son." The principal said.

"He's as much my son as I'm your grandaughter!" Jade huffed. Equius stared in surprise. Jade continued, "I'd like to hear my _son's_ part of the story."

And so Equius explained pretty much everything we've read except for the part about the girls. That part is kind of excessive. When he reached the part about the wheelchair, Jade exploded.

"They did what!? Oh, I will make them pay the expenses for the new one." Jade harrumphed. She stormed out of the office, Equius in tow. Feferi and the others had been waiting outside, Tavros sitting on the bench. Eridan lifted Tavros onto Equius's back and they walked home. The town of Florafauna was so small you walk everywhere inside it in only half a day. And so there they were in a short amount of time. Jade held the door open as all her kids filed into the house.

She closed the door, and smiled. Her son was defending her other son. She stopped smiling. He was getting in trouble though.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter Four_**

**_The Eighth Grade Formal_**

_AN: I had been planning on throwing this whole story out the window, but the reviews I've gotten have given me inspiration for another chapter! Thanks to all of you, and remember: you know a fan fiction is bad when it starts out terribly! Cheers! And happy reading!_

Tavros had absolutely nothing to wear for anything as fabulous and important as the eighth grade formal. So, completely forgetting that he had a perfectly good stylist living with him, Tavros just sat in his new wheelchair (paid for by the bullies) and moaned up at the ceiling. I mean really, there isn't much else to do when you're frustrated and can't really kick anything because you can't move your legs! If Tavros could kick something, he would have done so right now. But instead, Tavros sat in the room he shared with Vriska (bad roommate choice JADE) and moaned.

"Taaaaaaaavros, you look funny, sitting there like an idiot." Vriska teased, as she wrote in her blue notebook about things that probably had to do with her next scheme. Tavros turned to her and would have stuck out his tongue, if he suddenly had the urge to push himself down the stairs. Vriska laughed as he struggled hard not to do so.

"Vriska, don't make me do it! No, no, no, Vriska!" Tavros yelled as he wheeled out of the room. And for reasons only I, the writer, know, he added, "Vriska!"

Then his wheelchair clattered down the stairs as Vriska laughed. She laughed so hard, her sides were aching. Tavros bumped into the wall at the end of the stairs. Jade, who had been taking Nepeta's laundry upstairs, bumped into him. And of course, for more reasons only I, the writer, know, Jade instantly knows who did it.

"VRISKA!" Jade yelled up the stairs. Jade then struggled with bringing Tavros back up the stairs.

Kanaya hummed a tune as she worked on a new outfit for the eigth grade formal. She had had several boys ask her, and even Troy asked. Troy was super popular, and every girl was envious when Kanaya said yes. Now Kanaya was sewing, ignoring her cramped up fingers. If Kanaya broke all of her fingers she would still sew her designs. But that's because she has to create fabulous original designs to live up to Naya, her alter ego. Naya wears expensive, one-of-a-kind clothes that's always in style and Naya is also the trendsetter at Florafauna middle school. She wears knee high socks, everyone else starts wearing knee high socks. She wears diamonds, everyone tries to wear diamonds.

Now the one-of-a-kind part of Naya's clothes was true, seeing as Kanaya made them all by herself. But the expensive part… not so much. But Kanaya was so good at sewing that every outfit looked professionally made, and Naya was thought to be the richest girl in school.

Naya handles her social status at school, but what about her grades? Well Kanaya has that covered too. Naya hires nerds to handle math and science, but Kan, Kanaya's not-to-great inner brainiac, handles English.

I know right? Kanaya gets fame and recognition at school while everyone else is teased and such? Not fair! But Kanay hadn't always been so popular. There had been a time when she was just as teased as everyone else. She had had braces and everyone called her metal mouth. Now her teeth were perfectly straight. And also, I have the answer to another of your questions: isn't Kanaya a lesbian? Of course! She just feels a little self-conscious about that, so she pretends to be heterosexual. In truth Kanaya has always had a crush on Samantha. That name rings a bell! Oh yeah, that's Tavros's date to the formal! Bu Kanaya doesn't know that.

Finally having remembered about Kanaya, Tavros wheeled his chair into Kanaya's room.

"Knock knock, uh, sis." Tavros said. Kanaya whirled around, startled. She had been absorbed in her work, and hadn't remembered about her eleven adoptive siblings. Tavros shrank back three feet, bumping into Eridan in the hall.

"Watch where you're going!" Eridan shouted. Tavros murmured an apology as he wheeled away and back into Kanaya's room.

"Would you require any assistance, my sweet orange blooded brother?" Kanaya asked.

"I need an outfit for the eighth grade formal." Tavros murmured.

"Oh." Kanaya responded with utter contempt. She knew all about Tavros and Samantha going to the formal. And boy did she hate it. But, he was her brother. And siblings, even adoptive ones, have to stick with each other. And so Kanaya set to work on a tux for her adoptive brother.

That night, Vriska was really bored. Tomorrow was the last day of school, and Tavros was snoring very loudly, so there. Two reasons why Vriska couldn't sleep. Vriska stared at Tavros. Tonight might be the perfect night to put her plan into action. Vriska pulled out a nose ring and a needle. A wicked grin spread over her lips.

The next morning Tavros woke up with an ache on his nose. Right between the nostrils, there was a weight and a sore spot. Tavros looked in the mirror. Then he screamed. He now had a nose ring, like the kind a cartoon bull wears all the time.

Jade rushed into the room. She spotted Tavros and his new nose ring.

"VRISKA!" Jade yelled. She pulled back Vriska's blue quilts to see Vriska, smiling like she was the cat who ate the canary. Jade looked it up, and discovered that if she took it out within twenty four hours then the whole would close up. Jade started to work, Tavros yelling with pain every twenty seconds. Finally, Jade gave up trying to take the nose ring out. Jade swore very very loudly. Then she grounded Vriska.

What seemed like a few minutes was in reality six hours, and pretty soon, Tavros was in his orange tuxedo and Kanaya was wearing her greenish, blueish, mostly green, floor-length dress.

Samantha and Troy were at the dance waiting, when, (yes, Troy is gay) Troy spotted Tavros. He fell instantly in love as he saw how absolutely adorable Tavros looked in his cute orange tuxedo, and his cute horns. Samantha must have thought so too, because she ran up to him and did exactly what she said she'd do. She jumped into his lap and, because he was so adorable! She kissed him on the cheek. He mooed and blushed. Troy and Kanaya sighed. Troy led Kanaya to the refreshments table.

Kanaya sipped her punch moodily. Troy did the same. Troy flicked a glance at Kanaya's horns. Then stared at Tavros's horns. He flicked another glance at Kanaya's.

"What?" Kanaya asked. Troy nodded toward Tavros.

"Is he your brother?" Troy asked. Kanaya nodded. "Where'd his outfit come from, Naya?"

"I m- I bought it for him." Kanaya replied. Troy nodded.

"Is he homosexual?" Troy asked. Kanaya straightened. She looked at him studiously. Then she watched Tavros. She had never really thought about it, but were any of her siblings homosexual? Samantha had jumped off of Tavros's lap and been asked to dance by another eighth grader. Tavros sat down twiddling his thumbs. Kanaya rolled her eyes. How could Tavros have ever thought a dance would be more fun than being at home? At least at home he had his siblings and the tv. Here he just sat, catching dust and watching other people dance.

"I don't think so." Kanaya said absentmindedly. Troy looked a little down at this news. He shrugged and walked off. Kanaya just let him. She walked up to Tavros.

"Tavvie, you want to dance?" Kanaya asked. Tavros looked up.

"But, I can't walk." Tavros said. Kanaya lifted him up.

"I'm just going to have to carry you, wont I?" Kanaya smiled. Tavros grinned. She spun him around in a circle. And brother and sister had the time of their lives.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Eridan's Gillfrond

_AN: Sorry I haven't written in a while, I didn't have internet connection in the mountains. I was camping._

"And you are absolutely sure your mom will like me?" Penny asked. She and Eridan were celebrating the fact that their relationship lasted into the summer by meeting each other's family.

"It's not my mom I'd be worried about." Eridan smiled reassuringly. Penny smiled nervously back. Eridan looked ahead. Penny turned away to look at the bubbling stream. Eridan stopped and looked too. It ran through town towards the woods, and Eridan had never followed it, mostly because of Gamzee needing watching, but Gamzee wasn't around right now. And Penny was just as interested in the stream as he was, if not more.

"Wow, Eridan, that fish is looking at you!" Penny giggled. Eridan stood next to her. Eridan bent down to see the fish.

"It is. I never thought I'd say this, but I feel like it knows me." Eridan said. Penny squatted down to look at it. If Eridan weren't such a gentleman, he probably would have tried to look under her skirt, but he was as gentlemanly as his family could get. And that's pretty darn gentlemanly, seeing as gentlemen are so hard to come by these days. Instead, he squatted next to her. He watched Penny examine the fish thoughtfully.

"You're right, I thought you'd never say that too. Well, let's go see your mom, I'm sure she's getting anxious." Penny said. She stood up and spun in a circle. Eridan slowly stood up, still wishing they could follow the stream.

Jade had set the table right after lunch. Then she had folded the laundry. Then she reset the table. Then she took Equius to piano lessons. Then she reset the table again. Then she patched a hole in Nepeta's favorite jacket. Then she reset the table yet again. Then she decided to make Tavros a nice warm cup of hot chocolate. But she stopped when she was halfway finished and reset the table. Then she cooked the actual meal. And from then until dinner she kept changing the plates and forks and knives and cups, over and over.

Finally she had set the table with the blue willow set on the yellow place mats when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Tavros said. He rolled his chair to the door and looked through the child's peephole. He opened the door and in came Eridan and Penny.

Pretty soon everyone was at the table.

"So, which one is which, Eridan?" Penny asked, who seemed to be quite surprised at how things had gone so far.

"Well, the one eating Vriska's food that would be Terezi. She can't see, so that's why Vriska thinks she's eating less food than everyone else."

"Wait, this isn't my plate?" Terezi asked. Vriska glowered at her. Vriska had not realized someone was eating her food, and so she punched Terezi in the stomach.

"And the very angry one, that would be Vriska."

"You bet I'm angry, Eridan, and I would watch my purple hair if I were you, because you might not have it tomorrow morning." Vriska growled. Terezi poked Vriska in the shoulder with her fork. Vriska yelled in pain.

"This is your arm, right?" Terezi asked. Vriska smacked Terezi.

"And the one with the disgusted look in her eyes is Kanaya. I don't think she likes the place mats."

"The place mats are fine, but your clothes! If I had named you, it would have been Rusty Penny." Kanaya sniffed and turned away. Penny fingered her top nervously.

"I like your outfit just fine." Tavros smiled.

"Oh? And what's your name?" Penny asked.

"Tavros." Tavros blushed orange.

"AWWWW! I've never seen orange blush! It's so cute! Eridan, do you blush orange too?" Penny asked.

"No, I don't." Eridan said, quite disturbed that his girlfriend was squishing Tavros's face as if he were a child. He flushed of embarrassment.

"Awww." Penny said, sounding deflated. She looked at him and suddenly squealed. "OMG! YOUR BLUSH IS PURPLE!"

Everyone turned to look at him. Vriska laughed.

"Eridan's blushing! Eridan's blushing! Eridan's blushing!" Sollux teased.

"Eridan are you a mood ring? Because purple means you're in looooooooooooooooove!" Vriska hooted.

"Eridan, your blushin' mother fin' miracles, man. Like, no joke man. Like, I blush that same mother fin' color, man." Gamzee said. Eridan moaned. Worst date ever!

"EVERYONE STOP!" Jade shouted. Then she grabbed Sollux and Vriska by their pointed ears and dragged them out of the room. They howled with pain as they exited. Jade added, "You too, Gamzee!"

"Bye, the woman of the house is calling me man." Gamzee said, and he slipped away. Eridan buried his face in his hands, his ears turning purple.

"Tavvie, you are so adorable. So super cute. Just the cutest little thing. That nose ring and that Mohawk make you look all the more adorable, and someday, you will look as hot as your big brother." Penny smiled.

"My birthday is two months after his." Tavros frowned. Penny stood straighter.

"Really? I mean, I know you're all adopted but you look so much younger than him." Penny said.

"Penny, would you like to see the garden? I'm sure you'd love it!" Feferi said.

"Um, uh, okay. Eridan, will you show me the garden?"

"Oh, I kind of need to talk to Eridan." Feferi smiled to hide her actual intentions.

"That's fine, Tavvie cam show me." Penny said. And Tavros led Penny out towards the backyard.

"What is it, Fef?" Eridan asked.

"I don't think Penny is the right gill to be your gillfrond. There are plenty of other fish in the sea that are so much more polite than her, and I just want to make shore you're okay with her calling you her buoyfrond, before the big decisions come. Do you understand?" Feferi explained. Eridan forced a gulp down his dry throat.

"I didn't think of it that way." Eridan said.

Penny and Eridan sat at the stream and splashed their feet.

"I don't think that you're sisters and brothers like me." Penny said.

"They do, they really do! But, I was thinking…"

"Eridan, what are you saying?" Penny asked.

"Penny, it's hard enough trying to tell you this, please don't make it any harder!" Eridan pleaded urgently. Penny closed her mouth. Eridan took a deep breath and continued, "Well, we proved everyone wrong that we wouldn't last to the summer, but… well, I feel like that was the only reason we stayed together."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Penny scoffed. She stood up, knee deep in the stream.

"Honestly, yes; I am." Eridan said.

"You can't break up with me! You told me you loved me! We can't ever break up! Ever! We are still very much together, we will graduate as a couple, and we will go to prom as a couple!" Penny insisted desperately.

"No, we're not." Eridan said. And he stood up and walked away, leaving Penny sobbing in the stream. She fell to her knees, wondering what she did wrong. Eridan just walked away, like Dave had done to Jade so many years ago. And he had a guilty weight on his shoulders, just like Dave.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Harley and Strider

Nepeta sat on the bank of the stream. Equius was at piano lessons, and he was really the foundation of her life. So what would she do? Sit on the bank of the stream.

"Jake, dude, listen to me. There is a creepy dude in the stream. He stared at me!" A boy said. Nepeta's ears perked up a bit. People!

"I don't believe that a- BLOODY HELL, WHAT IS THAT?" the Jake boy shouted. The people needed help. Nepeta knew that Equius would be mad.

"JAKE!" a girl screamed.

"Jane, take Jake and run away as fast as you can!" the first boy shouted.

"Why Jake? What about you?" the Jane girl yelled.

"I'm the first one he attacked!" the first boy screamed, then calmly added. "He only needs me."

Nepeta could not let this continue. She used her cheetah speed and ran over to the sight on all fours. She skidded to a stop in between a blonde boy and a very tall man with Eridan's horns and grey skin just like Nepeta and her adoptive siblings. He had two purple scars across his face and wore several golden rings and his pointed teeth were either rotting or gold.

"Wait, he-" the boy behind her began. Nepeta flashed up and bit the tall mysterious man. For our convenience, I will refer to him as Dualscar. (Hint*hint). Dualscar shook his arm to shake her off, but oh boy, Nepeta didn't let go. She could taste the purple blood coming from Dualscar's fishy tasting arm. Dualscar's rings scraped against Nepeta's arm, cutting through her sleeve and cutting her. Nepeta jumped off with a yelp and grabbed her arm.

Having had a taste of Dualscar's fishy skin, Nepeta's pupil's dilated and she lost control of her mind. Nepeta didn't remember much after that, but because I can't leave you hanging, I'll explain what happened.

Nepeta leapt at Dualscar. Now Dualscar could tell this wasn't just defense anymore: this was now the wildcat preying on the fish. Dualscar dogded the jaws of the hungrering little cat troll (not that she knows she's a troll) and shrank back into the stream. He disappeared. Nepeta landed on the bank on all fours. She snatched at the water. Then the splash woke her up, I guess you could say.

Dirk (that's the guy who was watching the whole time) never finished his sentence. He just sat there watching as Nepeta weakly tore off her sleeve. He couldn't see the cut, but he could tell she had one. He got up and sat next to her.

"Nice blood color." Dirk said. Nepeta was startled. She covered her cut. Dirk laughed a little. "Why hide it? It's a really nice color. Matches your eyes."

"Equius says that people don't understand. That when you have a different blood color, people will call you weird. That they'll say mean and hurtful things." Nepeta murmured.

"That's true for some people. Not for a Strider. I'm Dirk Strider. Being different is sort of my thing." Dirk smiled. Nepeta smiled back.

"I'm Nepeta Harley." She said. Dirk cuddled up next to her. Nepeta leaned her head on his shoulder and from the stream bank, they watched the sun set.

Now, I've checked and there is no law against it. Let's rewind to sometime before Jade and Dave found the trolls. Dualscar is Eridan's sort of ancestor. Except that Eridan is Dualscar's son. In a way, they were never supposed to know each other. The kid is born and sent to a lusus to be raised. So Dualscar searching for his son is quite out of line.

Eridan is born. Dualscar finds him to be the perfect descendant/son. And then Eridan's lusus lost him! LOST HIM! So Dualscar went hunting for his son. He never even guessed his son would be anywhere as close as Florafauna until his fish spies found Eridan with a human girl. And so Dualscar decided to go that stream and collect his son. When this blonde boy was tossing stones into the stream, Dualscar attacked. Then the cat troll came, and went wild after biting him! Dualscar could barely escape. When he was in the safety of the stream, he watched the two talk. And they fraternized. Dualscar was worried for his son after this. Human's and troll's were not supposed to get along this way.

Then he came up with a plan.

Nepeta hummed a little tune as she made her way to her bedroom in the dark hallways. Nepeta turned that oh so familiar corner to her bedroom and saw the light on, and Equius on her bed.

"What's up?" Nepeta purred softly.

"Oh, I was just sitting here, waiting for you. Did you not remember I return from piano lessons just after dinner? I heard you missed the meal too. What were you up to?" Equius asked.

"I met the coolest dude! He likes cats and I'm apparently a cat, he even bandaged up my cut."

"He saw your blood color?" Equius asked, shocked. He was also quite angry. Why, he had no idea. Nepeta fell on her back onto the bed.

"He didn't tease me or anything about it either. Why'd you say they would?" Nepeta asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Because not everyone is like your perfect and accepting crush!" Equius shouted.

"The people I meet are all accepting! Maybe there are more accepting people out there then you think! Maybe you had a bad experience with one person and that makes you hold a grudge against everyone." Nepeta shouted back. Equius turned blue (his equivalent of turning bright red) and left the room , stomping.

"I will not be talking to you until you figure out how bad hanging out with him will be for you." Equius announced. Nepeta stood up.

"I'll just talk to Dirk!" Nepeta shouted. Equius slammed the door behind him. Nepeta sank back onto her bed, sobbing. She never liked to watch fights and now she had just had her first fight with Equius. Oh the tragedy of troll/human relationships.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Karkat's Gift

It's not that Karkat was mad at anyone. Karkat just had a lot of issues ever since he found out his own family didn't want him. And it didn't help much to know that Jade wanted him, because if you thought about it, Jade didn't even know his family as a family friend or a family doctor. So Jade really isn't a comfort for Karkat. Sure Karkat has his weird and creepy twin, Aradia, but he's always wanted to find his real family. Ask why they didn't keep him (because that's just how troll family's work, but he doesn't know that), and maybe find out about how he got his horns, and why they are so much shorter (actually just smaller in general) than Aradia's horns.

But there was a girl who had made Karkat smile (I know, right?! He SMILES!) and she passed no judgment on him whatsoever. And she was the daughter of Karkat's therapist. Have I mentioned Karkat's therapist before? Anyway her name was Juniper, and Karkat and her were pretty good friends. Juniper was religious. She was a Mormon, and not like a stereotype Mormon with a huge family and the weird customs, she was the chill laid back Mormon who seemed, well, "normal" when you first met her. She was really nice though, and when Karkat finished his therapy sessions, she walked home with him. Seriously, you didn't need a car to get around in Florafauna. But this day was special. It was Junipers Birthday.

It was a chilly summer's day. Karkat stood on the bridge peeking into the present box. Suddenly, a jogger bumped into him. Karkat stumbled and the charm bracelet he had been peeking at, flew out of his hands. Karkat watched in horror as the bracelet plunged farther into the water. The jogger yelled an apology but Karkat barely heard.

Karkat ran off the bridge to the stream bank. Karkat stopped at the edge of the water. No one younger than Gamzee had ever learned how to swim, and the stream was more of a river than a stream, to tell the truth. Karkat tried to look through the water from a distance. If Sollux were here, Karkat could ask him to levitate it out of the water. But no, Karkat was alone, and feeling very stupid. Karkat waded into the river, and by the time he reached the spot the bracelet had dropped, was chest deep.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a girl asked. Karkat plunged himself into the water; the deeper water.

"HEY!" The girl shouted. She jumped in after him. She couldn't see through the murky water. She came up for air and a better view. Bubbles? Where there's bubbles there's a mammal. The girl dove back in.

Karkat found something shining. He grabbed it, and now he began struggling for air. A red haze blurred his vision. Suddenly, an iron grip grabbed him. Was it death? Had death come to collect him? He hadn't said a proper goodbye yet. He had not apologized to Dave yet. He wasn't ready. Everything went black.

Karkat awoke slowly to find that he was in the hospital. A television was mounted on the wall, and it was on the news channel.

"This young lady saved a life here at Florafuana Stream, only earlier today. Tell us, young lady what is your name?" A reporter asked.

"I'm Roxy Lalonde." The girl from the stream, well, river, smiled. Karkat's jaw dropped. Not because of Roxy, but because there, on the bridge were two trolls. The reporter was talking again.

"Oh, I just sort of swa *saw him dive in, and I really don't knwow *know why he did it, but when I dragged him out of the water, he was holding something really tightly." Roxy said. She hiccupped.

Karkat remembered the gift he had gotten for Juniper. He looked around. There! Karkat reached over and snatched it up. He examined it. All the charms were in place. Wait, Roxy Lalonde? Karkat recognized that name. Then he spotted a certain charm. The letters R and L intertwined. He had not grabbed the right bracelet from the bottom of the stream/river. The bracelet he had planned to give to Juniper had a J intertwined with a K. Standing for Juniper and Karkat of course. Karkat flushed bright red (That's his color. If you don't believe me, read homestuck) at the thought. R.L. probably stood for Roxy Lalonde. Suddenly, Karkat knew where he recognized Lalonde from. That was the name of the guy Rose had briefly been married to. Briefly. Then they divorced because he had gotten another woman pregnant. So, that's what happened to Bradley.

Karkat didn't live through that story of classic heartbreak, but he had heard it over and over when hiding in Rose's room as she talked to her girlfriend. Blegh! Wait, you didn't know? Oh ho ho, you are in for a surprise! Karkat is a hopeless romantic, no matter how weirdly angry he gets. His favorite movie genre are romantic comedies, he has read Twilight at least thirteen times (but found the movies disturbing), and cherished the ending of The Hunger Games (the movie… not the book). Yes, Karkat sneaks into Rose's room, and John's room, to hear stories of wasted love. Weirdo. Anyway, he had stopped going to Rose's room because he had heard the same story over and over.

"I don't care what the nurses say, I'm going to see my younger brother and you can't stop me!" Nepeta's voice came from the hall.

"Nepeta, it's not like I don't want to see him either, it's just that breaking rules and not doing what I'm told don't come very naturally to me." Equius's voice came too.

"Well then, toodles! I'm going to see Karkitty." Nepeta blew a raspberry at Equius. Then Karkat saw her come in.

"Hey, Nepeta." Karkat frowned.

"KARKITTY!" Nepeta cried and launched into his bed. "Oh, Karkitty, I need love help."

"Why does everyone think I'm the love bank?" Karkat groaned.

"Please please please please please!" Nepeta squealed sadly.

"Fine. You want a guy to notice you or something?" Karkat asked.

"No. I want Equius to be okay with my boyfriend." Nepeta purred softly at the word boyfriend.

"Boyfriend? How long was I out? Did I miss my seventeenth birthday?" Karkat exclaimed. Nepeta laughed and shook her head.

"I met him a few days ago. We started dating yesterday, when you nearly drowned. Anyway, everyone likes him except Equius. And that's just because Dirk saw my blood color." Nepeta frowned.

"What's wrong with your blood color?" Karkat asked.

"It's green."

"Oh." Karkat frowned. "Well, I met a girl who I may never see again, so we're both in doomed love boats of our own."

"Why's love gotta be so hard?" Nepeta asked.

"No idea. Anyway, there will be people your friends and family don't like. And you'll just have to deal with them ridiculing your boyfriends and even trying to make you change your mind about them. You just need to keep going." Karkat said. He smiled.

"Thanks Karkitty. You know everything. Which is weird because you don't have any exes or current girlfriends." Nepeta puzzled.

"You just ruined a great brother sister moment." Karkat frowned. Nepeta laughed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Vriska VS Nina

Vriska was naturally a very mischievous girl. But how was she going to ever regain her title as "school bad girl" was beyond her. Seriously, ever since Nina Pyne came to town, Vriska was demoted to that weird girl with horns trying to be bad. She couldn't even scare bullies off anymore.

So when the first day of school came rolling around, Vriska set to her amazing work. First she wrote insults all over her home room's black board all addressed to Mrs. DeVille, the meanest teacher in school. Then she sent the whole school in hysterics by setting loose her sweet little poisonous tarantula, Spinnerette. Vriska really had a laugh then. She even ruined her own sister's outfit (Kanaya, of course!) using an absurd chain reaction of sorts. And her latest trick was just about to be put into action.

It was lunchtime on the third day of school and Vriska was sick of all the attention that Nina was getting for stuff she didn't even do. So she had devised a plan to take place during lunch. And it was perfect. Vriska snapped her fingers. Lulu, Nina's most trusted friend, looked in Vriska's direction.

"Too easy." Vriska grinned as she used her awesome power of mind control. Lulu lost all expression in her face and all will power. How easy it was to manipulate stupid people. Lulu walked ahead of Nina for two paces. She stopped and stuck out her foot. Nina tripped and her tray flew up, tossing her food into the air. Nina fell, all her food landing on top of her.

Vriska stopped wasting her energy and looked away to find where her siblings were eating lunch.

It seemed they were all spread out this year. There Karkat sat surrounded by worried girls hanging on his every word as he dramatized his near death experience. And there was Aradia sitting all alone sipping juice and being laughed at. Vriska almost wanted to sit with her to make a statement. But no, she couldn't do that, it would be social suicide. Sitting with a group of weirdo nerds, was Tavros, although he was sort of sitting two spaces away from the group, hinting that he didn't know them. Sollux stood leaning against the wall with his oh-so-cool (not really, the ding wads were just hackers) computer programming club. Vriska shrugged off the rude sign that Sollux flashed in her direction. She looked around some more and saw Nepeta braiding some girl's hair with Dirk sitting next to her talking to some random guy. Vriska rolled her eyes (BTW, because I really have no explanation for Vriska losing her eye in this AU, Vriska has two perfectly fine eyes.) and turned her head to look for Kanaya. There was Kanaya in full "Naya mode" as the Harley family called it, talking to Blake, the guy who replaced Troy as the most popular guy in school, and Jayson, one of Blake's best friends. Vriska grinned slyly. Then she looked over at Terezi who seemed to be smelling Vriska's glee. She was looking in Vriska's direction, quite angrily. Vriska quickly looked away and found Equius, where he sat with the football team, being admired by cheerleaders. Vriska knew he was trying to hide his sweat. Vriska got bored of watching Equius perspire and turned to watch Eridan act so ridiculous. Vriska got so bored she might have fallen and died, so she turned to watch Feferi. Feferi was working on her campaign for ninth grade president.

Vriska groaned and went over to the table she had defiled back in sixth grade. Vriska growled viciously at the sixth graders who were sitting there. All of them ran so fast, they could have run the track four times in less than a minute. Vriska laughed as she sat down and opened her soda. Well, Nina wouldn't stay at the top of the pranking gambit for long. Le sigh of happiness.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

If We All Were Color Blind

Equius watched Dirk and Nepeta snuggle. He thought of the many fights he and Nepeta had had about Dirk. Equius had calmed down by now, but he and Nepeta were still not on speaking terms. Nepeta scraped her knee during P.E. and Dirk had rushed to her with a band aide. Equius remembered the days he did that, fast enough so that no one would see. It was so that what happened to him would never happen to her.

Equius had been five or six, and he loved to wrench saplings from the ground. One day a little girl he really, really liked was watching him, and she asked him to pick her the blackberry bush so that she could take it home. Instead, Equius picked her three blackberry bushes, and ended up with his deep blue blood in long scratches up his arms. She merely laughed, and from then on he thought of this frequently. She teased him all through elementary school. Now, Equius was catious around girls, and things that may reveal his blood color. Whenever girls flirted with him, he thought of this, sending him into nervous sweat. And today was no exception.

"Hey, Karkaaaaaaaat. Don't look now but little miss rescue boat Lalonde is headed this way!" Vriska laughed, pounding Karkat on the back. With the force of the blow and the surprise of Roxy Lalonde's name mentioned, water shot out of Karkat's mouth and made a trail three feet long. Karkat wiped his mouth, his cheeks inflated with the limited water still in his mouth. He flushed bright red.

Roxy stopped next to Equius and already Equius started to sweat a little. Roxy took out her tiny hand towel she carried with her everywhere. (Seriously, Equius, this one's a nut job get out of here! Run forest, run! WTH) Roxy held it out to him. Equius reached out for it, and suddenly Roxy wrenched it away really fast.

"Equius, I've kind of been hoping that maybe you forgot, but I'm sorry for what I did. Like before I moved and moved back. Okay, now you can have the towel. But don't soak it too much okay, I still have P.E. coming up." Roxy said then pressed her little towel into Equius's hands. Equius had stopped sweating, in fact all he was doing now was staring up at her with his mouth open and his hands clutching the little magenta towel. Karkat, who had by now stopped steaming with jealousy, flicked his older brother in the ear to get him to speak to Roxy. He reacted.

"Karkat, I'm gonna get you back for that another time. I will be needing to privately speak with Miss Lalonde, so if you will all excuse me." Equius got up, grabbed Roxy's hand and sweat a little at her blush, which was of course normal colored, seeing as she was freaking human!

Equius led her behind the school building. He shifted from his right foot to his left foot. Then he looked at Roxy thoughtfully. He shifted his weight back to his right foot. Then he stood up straight and opened his mouth. He shut his mouth and shifted his weight again.

"Okay, you know what I get it. You don't know what to tell me, because I'm the one who rejected you, all those years ago." Roxy grinned self-consciously.

"You're talking as if we're fifty." Equius frowned. Roxy pulled a plum from her back pocket and started nervously peeling at the sticker.

"Oh, sorry, does that bug you?" Roxy asked, looking down at her plum.

"Do you always carry a plum in your pocket?" Equius asked. Roxy blushed again and nodded. Equius shrugged awkwardly, and then walked off. Roxy just stood there, her face bright red. She bit into her plum, and walked off as well.

Equius sat on the sofa doing his homework, when a knock was heard at the door. Tavros wheeled up to the door and opened it.

"Hello, Tavros! Thank goodness you answered the door!" Rose exclaimed.

"Hi, Aunt Rose, did you find your own place?" Tavros asked.

"No, sadly I failed at that. But, may I have a glass of wine? I may need it to wash off my new fiance!" Rose laughed. John, who entered from behind her, was laughing too.

"What happened?" Jade asked. Equius looked at them in curiosity.

"We were bummed, and at the bar, we had a couple of drinks, I had a ring, and we decided, why the hell not?" John said.

"YOU'RE RELATED, THAT'S WHY THE HELL NOT!" Jade shouted. That called all twelve kids to come see the diamond ring on Rose's finger. Jade stomped over to the phone. She dialed in a number the kids knew only from when Jade was drunk.

"Dave, your brother in law just got engaged to your twin sister." Jade said into the receiver. "No, it is not good for him! You come down here tonight! No, you cannot be the best man! Just come down here!"

About an hour later, everyone was down for dinner, like around Christmas time. Karkat was staring at Equius in silent rage, Rose and John were still drunkenly kissing, Jade was furious with Dave, and all sorts of problems were mixed into the silence of the dinner table. For example, Feferi was the only blissfully happy one except for the drunken couple, spooning in the corner.

"So, Dave. Ask your sister why she dumped her perfectly fine girlfriend for my stupid twin brother." Jade hissed.

"Uh, Rose, what happened with Emily?" Dave asked.

"Oh, she dumped me two weeks ago, and today I saw her, and John was keeping me company, we drank a bit, he talked about how Miranda dumped him just as he was about to propose, and I said, 'you know what, we should date each other' and he asked me to marry him, so yeah." Rose said, grabbing a wine bottle from a high cupboard.

"What happened to your gayness?" Kanaya asked, quite miserable that her role model had gone straight.

"Oh, you're so right, John became a girl." Rose said, putting her hand on John's shoulder. Everyone fell silent as John and Rose went back to spooning. John reached his hand up the inside of her shirt.

"OKAY! BEDTIME!" Jade cried. John and Rose stopped in surprise and both tipped over their own chairs. The kids all laughed. John and Rose tried to get up. John fell over again and Rose started laughing. John pulled her to the floor, and he started laughing.

"Okay, all of you to bed." Jade continued. Everyone filed up the stairs. Equius was behind Karkat and in front of Nepeta, the two romance freaks of the century. And instead of leaving to their own bedrooms, Nepeta and Karkat followed Equius straight to his blue bedroom.

"Equius, Karkitty told me you were having girl purroblems." Nepeta said, sitting down on Equius's blue bed sheets. Karkat sat next to her.

"I don't have girl problems." Equius denied.

"Come on, Equiqui! Karkitty is an expert in these things!" Nepeta exclaimed.

"Really? That's weird because he's never had a girlfriend and he doesn't have one currently." Equius said.

"Okay! Fine, I will admit my expertises are because I watch and write romantic comedies. There, I said it. You can call me gay, but I'm not!" Karkat blurted. Equius and Nepeta just stood there.

"No one was judging." Nepeta said quickly. Karkat laughed nervously very quickly. Then he sat down and whistled a little. Nepeta turned back to Equius.

"Well, yeah, I have girl problems. Roxy used to be my crush, but then she saw my blue blood." Equius said. Nepeta gasped and Karkat grinned.

"That's why you warned me about Dirk!" Nepeta exclaimed. Equius turned blue in the face.

"So, Roxy turned you down because of your abnormal blood! Hah! Lucky me, I have normal blood!" Karkat laughed. Nepeta and Equius looked at him.

"You have normal blood but you still look like all of us?" Equius asked.

"I may be a freak among my siblings, but I'm not a freak among normal humans!" Karkat protested.

"You have orange horns and gray skin." Nepeta pointed out. Karkat blinked.

"Whatever!" Karkat said defensively, and he stomped from the room. Nepeta and Equius hugged each other.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Triskety and Kalara

Triskety was a troll about 6 sweeps old as was her good friend Kalara. She was a blue blood but Kalara was a "puke-blood" as idiots called them. Her blood was orangey brown like the awesome character called Tavros. Triskety had lived underground with the rest of the trolls for her entire life. And Kalara had only just shown her the upper world. She told her friends and somehow Dualscar found out and ordered her lusus to enroll her in human school. It was weird, but it happened. Kalara enrolled with her.

Triskety was back at school, after being completely shaken by Dualscar. Dualscar had ordered Triskety to become friends with one Eridan Harley. And Triskety hated being ordered around. So she had set to work avoiding this Eridan guy, but he had recently bumped into her in the hall and been stalking her since.

"I can't believe this. I can't even take it any longer. Eridan Harley come on out, I know you're stalking me!" Triskety shouted in the school hallway one day. Everyone turned to look at her. Eridan turned bright purple and walked out from behind her locker door.

"So, you know the creeps name?" Kalara smiled. Eridan growled and clenched his fist.

"Oh, so you're going to hit me now? You're going to hit a girl with everyone in school watching? Huh, Eridan? You gonna hit a guuuuuurl?" Kalara taunted.

"Kalara he actually might, so shut up." Triskety growled. Seeing that nothing was going to happen, everyone went back to their business. She turned back to Eridan. "Now, I'm Triskety, and this is Kalara. And I really want to kill you! So please hurry up and tell me, highblood, what the hell do you think is going to happen if you continue to stalk me?"

"Well, I've just been waiting for the perfect time to maybe ask you out." Eridan shrugged.

"Well, next time you get a little puppy love crush just ask her out at lunch, and leave her alone except when you happen to bump into each other. Gosh, I have a stalker. Kalara would you like to borrow my stalker? How weird does that sound?" Triskety growled.

"Well, I don't want your stalker. It also sounds really weird, but then again we're trolls raised by mutant animals underground. Also, have you heard of ice cream?" Kalara replied, examining a small, melted, ice cream sandwich that she had discovered in her pocket.

"Wait, you were raised underground?" Eridan asked.

"Yeah, so?" Triskety frowned, trying to read the tiny print on the ice cream sandwich package.

"Do all, um, trolls live there?" Eridan asked again.

"Yeah. What's with you, you look like a kid in a candy store." Kalara grimaced at him.

"Candy's a pretty new snack too." Triskety pointed out. Kalara nodded thoughtfully.

"So you're saying if I take my brother underground, we could maybe find his parents?" Eridan asked. Kalara took out her address book.

"Who's your brother?" Triskety asked.

"Karkat." Eridan said.

"Nope, the Vantas family is dead." Kalara replied swiftly closing her address book.

"Really?" Eridan deflated a bit.

"And you can't go underground anyway." Triskety frowned.

"Why not?" Eridan asked.

"A murderous villain is trying to find you, that's why." Kalara winked at Triskety. Triskety smiled back. Eridan's face fell.


End file.
